The Case of Charlie: Finding Happiness Beyond the Symptom

When Charlie came to see me at 16, he seemed like a typical teenager: a bit surly but kind-hearted underneath. His mother was concerned about the fights he’d been having with his younger sister. Being older and stronger, Charlie had been hurting her, and his mother was at her wit's end.

My opening question to most patients is, “On a scale of 0 to 100, how happy are you?” After some thought, Charlie answered 62. His mother dismissed it, saying it was likely due to the stress of exams, but to me, 62 was significant—it pointed to underlying unhappiness. It wasn’t just about exams or sibling fights.

The First Session: Addressing the Symptom

When I got Charlie on the couch and placed my hands on his head, I tuned into his life force. It didn’t take long to feel where the tension was strongest: school, and more specifically, his upcoming exams. His reaction was palpable; his whole system tensed when I mentioned them.

Exams are a fact of life for teenagers, something I couldn’t remove. But what I could do was help Charlie process his response to them. His stress around exams had built up to the point of feeling unmanageable. To his system, it wasn’t just pressure—it felt like a threat.

Over the next five minutes, I worked with Charlie’s life force, guiding it to resolve the tension tied to his exams. I could feel the stress dissolve, layer by layer, until it was completely gone.

He went home calmer, and his mother later reported that the fights with his sister had stopped. A good result, it seemed. But was it enough?

Beyond the Symptom

Removing the immediate stress around exams had addressed one layer of Charlie’s unhappiness. But when I asked him again, “How happy are you now?” he answered 75—not 100. The fights had stopped, but his unhappiness remained.

This is a trap many fall into, assuming that resolving a symptom is the same as resolving the problem. It isn’t. Symptoms are like signposts—they point to deeper issues but aren’t the issue themselves. While Charlie’s immediate stress had been cleared, there was still more to uncover.

The Second Session: Following the Life Force

When Charlie returned, I asked him to focus on the feeling of “only 75% happy.” He couldn’t articulate why he wasn’t fully happy—he didn’t know what else was wrong. But the life force doesn’t require words.

As he focused on the unhappiness, I tuned into his life force and felt a block, what I call an “I-force disturbance.” This block was holding the rest of his unhappiness in place. My role was to guide him to stay with the block while the life force worked through it.

Over the next few minutes, I felt the block begin to resolve. The tension released, and the life force began to flow freely again. Charlie didn’t need to name or explain the block—it was enough to let the life force do its job.

The Root Cause Revealed

A few weeks later, I learned that Charlie had finished his exams and left school. Only then was he able to articulate what had been making him so unhappy: he hated school. He had always hated it but believed he had no choice but to endure it. That belief—“I have no choice”—had created the block in his life force, leading to his unhappiness and the tension that caused fights with his sister.

By resolving the block, Charlie was able to see his situation more clearly. He realised he did have choices, and that shift allowed him to let go of the stress and unhappiness that had been holding him back.

What Does It Mean to Be Happy?

Charlie’s case illustrates an important point: happiness isn’t about avoiding responsibilities or running away from life’s challenges. True happiness comes from being in a still point, where the life force flows freely, and there is no inner conflict.

For Charlie, happiness wasn’t about escaping school or avoiding exams. It was about resolving the inner block that made him believe he had no choice. Once that block was cleared, he could approach life with a sense of peace and clarity.

Happiness doesn’t mean laughing all the time. It means sitting in a still point, knowing there’s no inner voice saying, “I should have done this” or “I could have done that.” It’s being fully present, aligned with your life force, and free from the I-force disturbances that create tension and pain.

The Bigger Picture

Charlie’s story is a reminder that addressing symptoms—whether it’s stress, anxiety, or unhappiness—is only the beginning. True healing comes from going deeper, from following the life force to its still point and resolving the blocks that hold us back.

The Boulderstone Technique isn’t about quick fixes or surface-level solutions. It’s about working with the life force to uncover the root cause of unhappiness and clear it completely.

If you’re carrying a burden you can’t quite name, know that the life force already has the answers. My role is simply to guide you to them, so you can find your still point and experience the happiness that comes with it.